The Control Of Respiration Is A Non Conscious Act

Once the limits have been reached, there is very little or no change that will occur in the response to any pressure change. This is figured out by using the equation of change in pressure and the change in volume. (Jardins, 2013) By using this equation it will help figure out how compliant the lungs are. This is critical in figuring lung dysfunctions and developing care for a patient. One of the major diseases that lowers the elastance of the lung and the most preventable is Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). COPD is categorized with an increase of airway resistance and the loss of lung elasticity. As a restriction in airflow develops, it leads to the hyperinflation of the alveoli. Some other diseases that are caused by low elastic conditions and is related to Hooke’s law are traumatic chest injuries, pneumonia, pneumothorax, pleural effusion, acute respiratory distress syndrome, pulmonary edema, and interstitial lung disease. All of the disease and/or illness’s cause the pressure-volume curve to slide to the right very quickly and allows the lung elastic properties to decrease significantly. (Jardins, 2013)

The bronchial tubes increase in length and diameter during inhalation. Bronchial tubes decrease in length and diameter during exhalation. Poiseuille’s law can be applied to the lungs when the bronchial tubes become constricted due to an increase in mucus production and can decrease in size. When the bronchial tubes decrease in size and the patient is breathing, it is going to take more pressure to move the air into the swelled bronchi. If the radius of a patient’s bronchial tubes increased by sixteen percent, the pressure to move oxygen into the lungs would double. Therefore, a patient with bronchial smooth muscle constriction of sixteen percent would have to double their driving pressure to keep a constant flow rate. If swelling occurs and the patient does not increase their pressure, the amount of oxygen they are getting to their lungs will decrease. Respiratory therapists can see this taking place in patients with asthma that have excess mucus secretions.

The airway is divided into two main parts, upper and lower. The upper airway includes the nose and nasal passages, paranasal sinuses, the pharynx, and the portion of the larynx above the vocal cords. The lower airways includes the portion of the larynx below the vocal cords, trachea, bronchi and bronchioles, as well as the lungs, although whether the lungs are part of the lower airway or another part among themselves is still a hotly debated topic. Respiration is controlled in the brain by the medulla and the pons, with an exception being the Hering-Breuer reflex controlled by the stretch receptors. Breathing is considered a both voluntary and involuntary action, as humans can override their involuntary breathing,

The primary muscle of respiration is the diaphragm. The nerve that initiates this muscle is the phrenic nerve.

During inspiration, the diaphragm and the surrounding muscles contract. The diaphragm moves down increasing the volume of the chest cavity, and the surrounding muscles pull the rib up to allow further increase in volume. This increase of volume decreases the air pressure in the alveoli

Age, height, and sex all have an effect on predicting lung volume. For flow rate, exercise is predicting factor. From the data, we see that males have higher PEFs and FVCs. This is most likely because of more muscles mass, height, and we have many male athletes. This supports the ideas that sex, increased height, and increased mass all increase the lung volumes.

There are three interconnected layers in the brain, the central core, the limbic system, cerebral cortex. The central core has five main regions that help regulate basic life processes, such as breathing, pulse, arousal, movement, balance, and sleep. The first main region in the central core is the thalamus. The thalamus begins the process of interpreting sensory information and determines fundamental propriaties and then forwards the information to the approprIate areas of the cerebral cortex. The second main region is the pons. The pons triggers dreaming and waking from sleep. The next main region is the cerebellum, which coordinates body movements, controls, posture, and maintains equilibrium. The reticular formation is another main region that is responsible for sending signals to the cerebral cortex to attend new stimulation and remain alert even during sleep. Lastly, the medulla is the center for breathing, waking, sleeping, and beating of the heart.

Corresponding upper motor neuron innervation for the aforementioned motor component are also involved. The second and third parts encompass the mechanoreceptor system, which responds to stretch and irritants to regulate the rate and volume of respiration, and the chemoreceptor system.

There are different factors that affect lung volumes such as taller people and people who live in higher altitudes often have larger volumes compared to shorter people or people who live at lower altitudes. Other variables such as age, gender and weight also have an effect on the lung function. As a person gets older not only does the natural elasticity of the lungs

The main organs of the respiratory system are the lungs – they are the location where the gas exchange between oxygen and carbon dioxide takes place. The lungs therefore expand when you breathe in, and retract when you breathe out. This is done through the diaphragm – a sheet of muscle that is positioned under the lungs. As one inhales, their diaphragm contracts and moves itself downward, increasing the space for your lungs to expand to. The ribs also move to enlarge the possible area the lungs can expand to. This pressure causes air to be sucked through the body to the lungs. When one exhales, the opposite takes place – the diaphragm moves upwards and returns to normal, allowing the process to happen again.

Until recently, it was thought that stimulation of lower airway rapidly adapting receptors (RARs) elicited cough 18. However, it has been shown that another population of airway sensory receptors that is found primarily in the larger airways is most likely responsible for cough 19. These sensory receptors are specifically termed cough receptors. Slowly adapting receptors have a permissive role in the production of tracheobronchial cough and a facilitatory role in laryngeal cough 20,21. The exact role of pulmonary C-fibers in the production of cough is more controversial, with some groups supporting an excitatory role 22 and others supporting an inhibitory role 23. Sensory information from these pulmonary afferents is processed in the brainstem, where the basic central elements responsible for the production of cough are located 11,12,14,16,24-27. Pulmonary vagal afferent information is processed by second order interneurons located near to and in various subnuclei of the NTS 28,29. These interneurons include pump cells, so called because their respiratory modulation is derived from lung SAR activity 30, laryngeal second-order relay neurons 31,32, and relay neurons mediating pulmonary C-fiber reflexes 32. Second order RAR interneurons are located in the commissural subnucleus of the NTS 28, but the role of RARs in regulating cough is currently

As we breathe in, the muscles in the chest wall force the thoracic area, ribs and connective muscles to contract and expand the chest. The diaphragm is contracted and moves down as the area inside the chest increases as air enters the lungs. The lungs are forced open by this expansion and the pressure inside the lungs becomes enough that it pulls

Figure 4.13, which represents “the respiratory cycle and muscle activation” (Gick 65), measures three types of breathing activities. The first activity is tidal breathing where an individual is functioning at an automatic and or resting state. This activity shows that only the diaphragm and external and internal interchondral intercostals are being used. During tidal breathing, the diaphragm contracts inferiorly, and the external and internal intercostals are all contracting in order to expand the ribcage during inspirtation. They then slow down to controllably exhale and return to equilibrium. During speech breathing, the three previously stated muscles are taking in large amounts of air in a short matter of time during inspiration. During

The air flow will control how quickly the diaphragm goes up. The rebounding (equilibrium) forces also activated when lung-thorax unit is compressed. Their needs to be a maintained airflow and subglottal pressure. Use inspiratory muscles to control air flow coming out at first. Still contracts the diaphragm and controls how quickly it goes up. Still contracts the external intercostals and others to control rib cage. Going down slower and volume decreases much slower. Positive pressure in goes up in lungs much slower. Pressure has not changed as quickly and airflows out slower to use and talk on. Exhalation will continue until reaching resting expiatory level which means everything is balanced and no muscular activity. During ninety percent active exhalation the process is the same except it will contract ab muscles, then lower the rib cage, which will decrease thoracic lung volume anteriorly to posteriorly, alveolar pressure increases, compresses viscera, and pushes the diaphragm. The final step of this exhalation will include decrease of thoracic and lung volume superiorly to inferiorly and alveolar press

In recent years, substantial progress has been made toward understanding the mechanisms regulating breathing within the brainstem. Improved tools for vector design combined with molecular biology enable selective gene expression regulation to monitor and/or control over time cellular activity of targeted respiratory groups. These features are particularly important for studying respiratory centers in the brainstem since most nuclei are composed of heterogeneous populations of neurons, dynamically interacting with each other to generate and synchronize the respiratory drive. Indeed, several neuronal subtypes have been identified in the preBötzinger complex, the core of the neural circuit generating respiratory rhythm, which can be